Winter days in Amsterdam are short and cool. In KNMI's 1991-2020 normals, December averages 4.2 °C (40 °F) at De Bilt, the institute's main station, and the Netherlands gets a long-term average of 58 hours of sunshine that month.
Edition 15 of Amsterdam Light Festival takes place from Thursday 26 November 2026 until Sunday 17 January 2027. The lights are on every day from 4:30 pm (16:30) until 11:00 pm (23:00), and on 31 December the festival closes at 9:00 pm (21:00).
A cruise along the route takes approximately 75 minutes. On a covered canal boat you see the artworks through big windows and a glass roof, and the boat is heated; open boats provide blankets to stay warm.
On foot, the walking route is 4.5 km (2.8 miles) and can be enjoyed in full or in sections with the festival app. You can also discover the light artworks by bicycle, on guided tours for small groups of at most 12 participants. The festival's own cruises and walks are booked on its website.
The Rijksmuseum, home of The Night Watch and The Milkmaid, is open daily. At the Van Gogh Museum you can get up close to masterpieces such as 'The Potato Eaters', 'Almond Blossom' and 'Sunflowers'; its tickets are available online only, and all visitors need a ticket with a start time.
The Stedelijk Museum is a museum of modern and contemporary art and design, and the Stedelijk Museum: Contemporary Art and Inspirations visits it with a guide, while the Amsterdam Private Walking Tour of Famous Painters and the Rembrandt and Van Gogh Private Walking Tour in Amsterdam walk you through the city's links with its painters.
The Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010. The canal district was a project for a new port city built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, and this urban extension was the largest and most homogeneous of its time.
On foot, the canal district can be explored on the Half-Day Amsterdam Jordaan Private Walking Tour or the 4-Hour Private Amsterdam Tour with Hotel Pickup and Drop.
For a short stay there is the Amsterdam Layover Experience: Canal Cruise and Heineken Experience, and the Anne Frank Walking Tour Amsterdam Including Jewish Cultural Quarter adds the Jewish Quarter.
The Zaanse Schans is a heritage village where the 18th and 19th centuries are brought to life, and people still live there. The village is freely accessible; not all locations are open daily, but most are open from 9 am (09:00) to 5 pm (17:00).
Inside its windmills, wood is sawn or oil, flour, spices and pigments are milled, and visitors can climb narrow stairs up to the deck of a mill for a panorama.
The Zaanse Schans and Volendam Private Countryside Tour from Amsterdam and the Amsterdam: Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Giethoorn Tour include it, and the Northern Highlights Tour: Four Iconic Destinations from Amsterdam covers more of the north in a day.
Yes: the light art is freely accessible for everyone, and tickets are for a walk or cruise experience.
Yes. The Anne Frank House can only be visited with a ticket bought online for a specific time slot; tickets are not sold at the door, and every Tuesday at 10 am (10:00) CEST tickets are released for a visit six weeks later.
Around 3.6 °C (38 °F) on average: that is KNMI's long-term January figure for De Bilt (1991-2020).
